Re: my shortlist of GNOME wishes

[Mike Swieton <pyromage ync net>]

What if you had a "script generator" program? The end result is that you can
go through and add actions to a list of things it should do. You could have
actions like "Search through files for a string" (i.e. it ought to run
grep), and new programs would be addable via a module/plugin interface, so
that it's extensible. Along with this would be a GNOME-specific interface,
which would allow actions done that would normally require a mouse (or user
input), like clicking buttons in applications and stuff. Then you'd hit a
generate button, and it would pop up a window with the output saying what
you want to do with it.

Between the ability to modify open windows (Not sure if this would be
possible; If it is it'd be necessary... Perhaps an app could have the
GNOME-compliant window manager do it?), combined with a clean GUI interface
to cryptic commands like sed, or controls like if's and stuff (and the
inevitable complexity involved in manipulating windows via command-line), it
would be a great tool. If you could get it to output comments it would also
function as a teaching aid, so the user can learn REAL scripting if he so
desires.

I am not sure if this is possible, but if it could be done well, i believe
it would allow for the automation and scripting you want, so power users can
easily automate things, while at the same time allowing a simple
point-and-click GUI for the MacOS refugee.

Comments?

>>I think that the GUI paradigm is somewhat antithetical to scripting; GUI's
>>are all about interaction, human-to-computer interface.  Scripting is about
>>automation, computer-to-computer interface.  MacOS has an Open Scripting
>>Architecture, an API which allows authors of gui apps to make their apps
>>scriptable.  MacOS has to do this because it doesn't have a command-line
>>interface.  GNOME could conceivably provide an API like this too, but why
>>should it?  Unlike the MacOS, Unix/Linux already has a command line and
>>powerful scripting languages/engines.  It has lots of little programs which
>>do one specific thing in a flexible, powerful way and languages to tie
>these tools together.  That's the Unix philosophy.